05/05/2025 - The event will take place again this year after its record-breaking 2024 edition, which brought together 90,000 spectators in over 600 cinemas from 46 countries worldwide

One of last year's European Arthouse Cinema Day events at Berlin's Delphi Lux (© Pablo Hassmann)

With its record-breaking 2024 edition bringing together 90,000 spectators in over 600 cinemas from 46 countries worldwide, the European Arthouse Cinema Day is set to return to make a global statement for (film-)cultural diversity, equity and dialogue across borders.

One global day of action that unites arthouse cinemas and their audiences from Ukraine to Bangladesh, from Venezuela to South Korea: organised by CICAE, the European Arthouse Cinema Day is the oldest, largest and most significant film-political initiative in the world. Its 10th edition will take place on 23 November 2025 and bring together audiences, arthouse cinemas, and film professionals worldwide to take a stand for the values of independent cinemas.

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CICAE President Christian Bräuer says, “The European Arthouse Cinema Day is a brilliant global initiative that unites the diverse facets of the arthouse scene. It showcases our collective strengths and reminds the world that arthouse cinemas are vital cultural pillars, embodying the values that make our societies unique. On this day, we not only celebrate the diversity of independent filmmaking and cinema as a unique collective and discursive space. The day also serves to strengthen the competitiveness of this unique ecosystem of independent filmmakers, producers, festivals, world sales, distributors and cinemas.”

In its ten-year history, the European Arthouse Cinema Day, initiated by the global nonprofit International Confederation of Arthouse Cinemas - CICAE, has brought together over 500,000 spectators, filmmakers, and arthouse cinemas from more than 50 countries on all continents.

For this unique joint film cultural action supported by dozens of prominent ambassadors over the years that include Wim Wenders, Ruben Östlund, Céline Sciamma, Agnieszka Holland or Levan Akin as well as political patrons such as the French and German ministers for culture and the First Vice President of the European parliament Sabine Verheyen, hundreds of participating cinemas collaborate across borders to organise special screenings and bespoke programmes, events and Q&As for audiences of all backgrounds to highlight the diverse cultural power and economic resilience of European film.